Before the basketball season began, I wrote an article on the new ACC. The 12 team league looked to be by far the most dominant conference in basketball. With all of its usual powerhouses returning to greatness, I expected this storied league to remain a unanimous choice as the best conference in college basketball. Looks like I was wrong.
Start with Duke. On their regular run through the season, they have compiled a 20-1 record so far with. Only four games have been decided by less than five points. Undefeated in league play, their only loss came at the hands of a strong Big East Georgetown squad.
Maryland, who returned everyone important except Gilchrist who may have been poison on the team anyhow, has not struggled, but neither have they had the season they expected. Two conference losses and two losses to the Atlantic 10, as well as an early season setback against Gonzaga, has dampened the Terps’ quest for a return to glory.
Wake Forest and Georgia Tech haven’t even broken in to the top 25. Boston College, the latest acquisition from the Big East, has faired well in the games they were supposed to win. But the Eagles are 1-4 against ranked teams this season.
The Wolfpack at NC State has done similarly. Struggling in the tough games but usually coming out on top in the expected wins, Herb Sandek has snuck his way in to the rankings without former ACC player of the year Julius Hodge.
And who can forget the Tar Heels, who lost their top seven scorers last year. Their eighth leading scorer from a year ago is a bench rider. Yet Roy Williams has kept them in the ranks of the elite with a very young core team.
But the ACC is struggling. Virginia, Florida State, Georgia Tech, and Wake Forest are not having trademark years. Virginia Tech and Miami are having the seasons they should have had last year. And the massive Big East is bulldozing through everyone they come across.
My previous article focused on Virginia Tech and a little on Miami, the newest members of the ACC at that time. So let’s look at Miami first, and wrap it up with my alma mater.
The Hurricanes have had an up and down season, making short work of Maryland and UNC, only to turn around and lose to BC and UVA. Watching Miami play, I have noticed some things about their team. It reminds me a lot of Virginia Tech’s team. Their stars are slightly undersized. They rely on athleticism and tenacity on the court to get the job done. When the opponents are getting winded, the ‘Canes still have speed on their side. Coming in to almost every game as underdogs only fires up their spirits. Robert Hite and Guillermo Diaz, who may be the most athletic point guard in the ACC, combine for 33.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game. And both players stand at just 6’2”. Their record doesn’t reflect the quality of play I have seen from this team.
And the Hokies, the fairy tale of the ACC last year, were supposed to come out inspired this season and win over the hearts of their doubters. Then Robert Krabbendam (7’0”, 230 lbs), the only true center on the team, went down with a knee injury and had to redshirt. Terrance Vinson, a perfect fit for Seth Greenberg’s system as a wing player, was also forced to take a medical redshirt. Last year’s freshman phenom in Deron Washington suffered through the horrors of Katrina, with his family being uprooted from New Orleans. But Washington has been nothing short of a savior for this team this year, proving to be worth every ounce of his 6’7”, 190-pound frame and then some. Coleman Collins has had to struggle through the ailments of his cancer-ridden father while balancing athletics and school as a 19 year old junior. A.D. Vassallo, the great freshman out of Puerto Rico with endless potential, has been grieving the death of his host mother, who passed away as a result of cancer right around the time of the UNC game earlier this season. Allen Calloway has had to shed the uniform this season and support the team as a manager so that he can focus on his fight with cancer. Wynton Witherspoon, another high potential young player, fractured his foot and missed much of the beginning of the season. One more player is trying to support a parent ailing with cancer as well.
And on top of it all, there are the shoes. Conspiracy theorists enjoy. Many who are close to the Hokie hoopsters have accused Adidas of supplying faulty shoes. The T-Mac line seemed to have no traction and no support for the players, who wore the shoes during a three game losing stretch before switching back to their old sneakers.
But we can’t really blame this all on outside influence. Basketball is basketball. Maybe these guys should use the game as a release for all of their pent up sadness or anger or whatever it is that is going on in their young minds. But can you really be mad at a team full of 19-21 year olds who can’t quite get their entire heart in to a basketball game when one of their teammates is battling cancer on the sidelines? Or when the team’s top scorer and rebounder has to leave the team to be with his father during his last hour? And the rest of the guys who were expected to contribute significantly this year have had to fight through injuries or take red shirt years to preserve their own livelihood.
Yet, on top of it all, the Hokies took Duke to the wire in Durham. Sean Dockery needed a miracle buzzer beater from 45 feet out to win the game 77-75. In all of their six ACC losses, the Hokies kept the games so close that most of them could have gone either way. They could just as easily be 6-2 in the ACC if only the last few seconds of the games had gone differently. They could even be 17-4 overall if it weren’t for bad refereeing, own baskets, and miracle shots.
But this shouldn’t be a season of “what if’s” and “if only’s” because “it didn’t” and we have to take the season for what it is. Sure, the team has struggled more off the court than on. But there’s only one way to go from where they are now, and that is up. It can’t get much worse for these kids off the court. They were forced to grow up fast in the face of some very serious adversity. But before you abandon the team cause they can’t win the big games, put yourself in their shoes. More than anything else right now, they want and need your support. Not just clapping for a basket or a steal. Really go out and support them. Go to the games and stay on your feet from beginning to end. Cheer until you can’t hear yourself, then cheer louder ‘cause no one else can either.
Virginia Tech 